How to register for the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme

Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS)

The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme:

• allows transparency of foreign influence in UK politics
• provides greater assurance around the activities of certain foreign powers and entities that may pose a risk to the safety and interests of the UK

The UK government has introduced this scheme to be better informed about the nature, scale, and extent of foreign influence in the UK. What is a foreign power?

A foreign power is any of the following:

1. The sovereign or other head of a foreign state, this does not include the Republic of Ireland.
2. A foreign government or any part of a foreign government. For example, a ministry or department.
3. An agency or authority of a foreign government or a part of it.
4. An authority responsible for overseeing the administration of a region within a foreign country or territory. For example, a local government authority.
5. A political party that is the governing party of a foreign government.

Who must register

You must register for FIRS if you, or your entity, meet all the criteria of any one of these situations. What is an entity?

Any organisation, business, club, charity, educational institution, established association, or similar group of people.

Situation 1

You must register for FIRS if all the following criteria are met:

• you or your entity make an arrangement, whether formal or informal, with a foreign power
• the arrangement involves a direction from the foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity to do, or arrange for others to do, at least one political-influencing activity in the UK
• no exemptions apply

Read more about registering for FIRS if you meet this criteria.

Situation 2

You must register for FIRS if all the following criteria are met:

• you or your entity make an arrangement, whether formal or informal, with a specified foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity from Country X, Country Y, or Country Z
• that arrangement involves a direction from the specified foreign power or entity to do any activity in the UK
• no exemptions apply

Read more about registering for FIRS if you meet this criteria.

Situation 3

You must register for FIRS if all the following criteria are met:

• you are a specified foreign power-controlled entity from Country X, Country Y, or Country Z
• you are doing activities in the UK

Read more about registering for FIRS if you meet this criteria.

Situation 4

You must register for FIRS if all the following criteria are met:

• you work directly for any foreign power
• you are misrepresenting yourself or your activities
• you are doing at least one political-influencing activity

Read more about registering for FIRS if you meet this criteria.

Situation 5

You must register for FIRS if all the following criteria are met:

• you work directly for a foreign power from Country X, Country Y, or Country Z
• you are misrepresenting yourself or the activities you are doing

Read more about registering for FIRS if you meet this criteria. What is a direction?

A formal or informal order or instruction that a person must follow.

The following may be examples of direction from a foreign power:

• a contract signed with a foreign power which requires activities to be done in the UK
• coercion or other pressure by a foreign power to do activities in the UK, and there may be negative consequences for not carrying out the activity
• What is an arrangement?

Any type of agreement, whether formal or informal, to do activities in the UK. This could include a contract, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), or an informal agreement to do activities in the UK. What is an activity?

An activity is any action that works towards the desired outcome of an agreement, or any action done under a direction from a foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity.

If you are still unsure whether you need to register for FIRS, use our registration checker.

Exemptions

There are some cases when you do not need to register for FIRS, these include: 

• those who are party to a UK arrangement (for example, those invited to participate at an event by a UK government department)
• foreign powers (as well as their employees and office holders)
• activities that are reasonably necessary for the functioning of a diplomatic mission
• spouses, partners and family members of diplomats and staff of diplomatic missions
• lawyers providing legal services

Recognised news publishers only need to register as part of the political influence tier.

Any arrangement with the Republic of Ireland will also does not need to be registered.

Read more about FIRS exemptions.

When you need to register

FIRS has two tiers in the legislation, the enhanced tier and the political influence tier. The main differences between the tiers are the deadlines to submit the registration, and the penalties for not complying.

In the FIRS online service, you do not select a tier, and we do not refer to them. The service will guide you through the correct route based on your answers.

Enhanced tier

You need to register no later than 10 days after making the arrangement if:

• you are in any arrangement with a specified foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity from Country X, Country Y, or Country Z.
• you do activities in the UK at their direction
• no exemptions apply

Read more about when you need to register.

If you commit any of the offences listed in the FIRS policy guidance, you could be sentenced to up to 5 years imprisonment and get a fine.

Political tier

If you are in an arrangement with any other foreign power or foreign power-controlled entity that involves political-influencing activities in the UK, and no exemptions apply, you need to register within 28 days of the arrangement being made.

Read more about when you need to register.

If you commit any of the offences listed in the FIRS policy guidance, you can be sentenced to up to 2 years imprisonment and get a fine.

Make sure you register in time by reading about the tier your registration is in, or use our registration checker.

How to register

Start your registration using our online service. Start

If you are the registrant

If you are the registrant, and you are registering for the first time, these are the basic steps you need to follow:

1. Sign in to your GOV.UK One Login account. You must create a GOV.UK One Login account if you do not have one.
2. Create a FIRS account.
3. Start a new registration.
4. Create a registrant.
5. Verify your identity.
6. Add an arrangement.
7. Add an activity.
8. Submit the registration.
9. You may need to provide evidence to explain why some of your information should remain private and not appear on the public register.
10. What is a registrant?

Any person or entity in a registerable arrangement. A registrant can also be an individual employed by a foreign power.

If your entity is the registrant

If your entity is the registrant, and they are registering for the first time, these are the basic steps you need to follow:

1. Sign in to your GOV.UK One Login account. You must create a GOV.UK One Login account if you do not have one.
2. Log into your FIRS account or create a FIRS account if you do not have one. This should be in your name, not the name of your entity.
3. Start a new registration.
4. Create a registrant. This is where you tell us the details of your entity.
5. Assign a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO). They must create a FIRS account, verify their identity, and be added as a user to this registrant before you can submit the registration.
6. Add an arrangement.
7. Add an activity.
8. Submit the registration.
9. You may need to provide evidence to explain why some of the information should remain private and not appear on the public register.
10. What is a Senior Responsible Officer?

A Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) is a person who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) within an entity. The SRO is typically a senior executive within the entity who has the authority to make decisions about FIRS and is the single point of contact for the FIRS team.

If you are registering for someone else

If you are registering on behalf of another person, they need to add you as a user in their FIRS account, then you can complete and submit registrations on their behalf.

To add another user to a registrant:

1. In your FIRS account, select an existing registrant.
2. Select add user.
3. Enter the FIRS account number of the user you want to add.
4. That user must accept the invitation in their FIRS account.
5. You can then confirm their acceptance.

That user can then start and submit registrations on behalf of your registrant.

! Warning

Any user added to a registrant can:

• complete and submit registrations on behalf of the registrant
• see any registrations for the registrant
• add or remove other users
• change the role of other users

Add another activity to a registration

To add another activity to an existing registration:

1. Sign in to your GOV.UK One Login account.
2. In your FIRS account, start a new registration.
3. Select an existing registrant.
4. Select an existing arrangement.
5. Add an activity.
6. Submit the registration.
7. You may need to provide evidence to explain why some of the information should remain private and not appear on the public register.

Read the guidance on identity verification and GOV.UK One Login.

If you do not have access to the internet when you need to register, you can follow the offline registration process.

The public register

The public register exists to provide transparency of foreign influence in UK politics. 

View the public register.

If you register a political influencing activity, some of the information related to this registration will appear on the FIRS public register.

The information from your registration that is set to appear on the public register is displayed before you submit. You can then select the option to keep some, or all, of the information private.

If publishing some, or all, of the information creates one or more of the following risks, it will remain private and not appear the FIRS public register.

Provide evidence for your information to remain private

Information set to appear on the public register will remain private if publication could: 

• cause serious harm to any individual involved in this activity
• harm a criminal investigation or proceedings, or prevent the detection of crime
• harm the safety or interests of the UK
• harm the commercial interests of any individual or entity in this activity

At the 'Check and submit your registration' stage of the online service, you can tell us if any of the registration information creates one or more of the risks and should stay private. If you do, you will have 5 days to submit your evidence.

You must explain how publishing the information you selected would create the risks you selected. You can upload documents to support your explanation.

Read the guidance on what information appears on the public register.

If you need to make a change to a submitted registration

If you need to make a change to a completed registration, you can do this from your FIRS account home page.

Alternatively, you can write to us at:

FIRS address
4th floor
2 Ruskin Square
Dingwall Road
Croydon
CR0 2WF